The mother of Ohio State Buckeyes football player Nathan Williams, above, says her son has not committed NCAA violations, contrary to a report by Sports Illustrated this week.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — While Ohio State officials are fighting for the Buckeyes' football program, nine current players are fighting for their own eligibility. That's why Columbus lawyer Larry James has a growing pile of OSU memorabilia in his office.

Coach Jim Tressel is gone. Five Ohio State players -- Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, Mike Adams, DeVier Posey and Solomon Thomas -- remain suspended for the start of the 2011 season. The NCAA continues to further investigate Pryor, though James, as Pryor's lawyer, doesn't believe issues about Pryor's cars or allegations of further memorabilia sales will lead to further sanctions.

But it's the cases of the nine Buckeyes newly named in this week's Sports Illustrated story as involved with trading memorabilia or autographs for tattoos or money that could have the greatest influence on this OSU season. In an interview with The Plain Dealer on Friday, Trina White, the mother of senior defensive lineman Nathan Williams, became the third parent among the nine players to publicly claim a son's innocence. The fathers of defensive linemen John Simon and linebacker Storm Klein previously said their sons hadn't committed any NCAA violations.

"He adamantly denies any of this," White said of her son, speaking by phone from her home in California. "I have his Gold Pants and two of his bowl jerseys, and he has the other one. I know these things are accounted for. And his father has any ring he's even been given so he can save them for him.

"He told me, 'I just want to put the pieces of this team back together and play our season.' "

The five Buckeyes suspended for five games, along with linebacker Jordan Whiting, who is suspended for one game, have been proven to have a relationship with former tattoo parlor owner Ed Rife. That association with the OSU program is not in doubt, nor is the fact that Tressel committed NCAA violations by concealing knowledge of his players' memorabilia sales, and that eventually led to the coach's resignation Monday.

What the parents and James are disputing is the inclusion of these new allegations in the Sports Illustrated story. Klein's father told the Newark (Ohio) Advocate that he plans legal action against Sports Illustrated. The magazine and author George Dohrmann have publicly stood behind the story and its reporting.

James said he would not encourage legal action by the parents, at least at this point.

"I think that would be premature," James said. "You don't want to throw good emotion and money after bad. . . . You want to get through this, get this done and then if you want to spend some money on that, you make that intelligent decision. I don't think it needs to be made now over emotion."

The more pressing issue for the nine players whose first mention in the scandal came in Sports Illustrated is whether the NCAA finds that any violations were committed. The NCAA can't suspend players based on a news story. But the news story prompted those players to be interviewed by the NCAA on campus this week.

The issue is what the NCAA finds to be true, and if a player is found to have lied to the NCAA during an interview, the sanctions against him could increase further.

James said he is working with those players and their families to gather memorabilia, like Big Ten championship rings and Gold Pants trinkets. He estimated that if there are 50 items in question among the nine players, he expects to have 48 of the items in his Columbus office by 5 p.m. on Monday. Asked why he was gathering the memorabilia, James said he couldn't say. But it's reasonable to assume it is to show as proof to NCAA investigators.

The presence of that memorabilia would not rule out the possibility that players traded other items or autographs for cash or tattoos, but James said, "There is not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that." James said some, but not all, of the nine players in question have visited the tattoo parlor in question, adding, "but unless you got something, there's not a violation."

Pryor's future: Willie Burns, Pryor's legal guardian who provided a home for the quarterback for several years in Jeannette, Pa., told the Associated Press on Friday that he believes Pryor will stay at Ohio State and not enter the NFL supplemental draft, which would be held in July if any players apply for it. Burns said he last spoke to Pryor on Wednesday, and the senior could change his mind at any minute.

"But if he does leave, somebody done pressured his butt -- bad," Burns told the AP.

Of course, Pryor could be left with no other choice if the NCAA or Ohio State finds other violations and decides to increase his current suspension. Many OSU observers, including former Buckeyes Eddie George and Chris Spielman, have said they believe Pryor won't play for Ohio State again.

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